Moon Landing Photos, the real truth.

Recently, the moon landings have been challenged within the popular media. Believers claim that the proof is in the photographs and videos; they claim that it's clear that the Eagle never landed. Is it really that black and white? Several professionals with high credibility, such as The History Channel and National Geographic, have challenged these claims that the moon landing never happened. These debates are not taken seriously by the professional media and are only taking place in the popular media.

The Forgotten Link

The link between technology and the moon landing is often forgotten, which sounds ridiculous granted that it was the advanced technology of the time that has gotten the US as well as Russia into space, whether it was a maned craft or not.

Aero science and rocketry were rapidly growing in the mid 1900's because of the cold war, television on the other hand was catching up. S.G. Collins, an expert in photography and video, says, "Apparent omnipotence of special visual effects increases linearly with your date of birth." Video was very primitive in the 1960's. People who believe that the moon landing was a hoax would have to believe that the footage was filmed on earth in slow motion. It would have had to be a slow play back, over cranking, or high speed video cameras. Over cranking would have been the optimal choice since slow play back isn't as smooth and high speed video cameras didn't exist yet. In 1969 there wasn't such thing as a high speed video camera and over-cranking the film could only gather 90 seconds of film for slow-mo. If they had decided to overcrank the film the couldn't have let one speck of dust land on the film or one splice mark show. Film wasn't to the point where it could have been faked. Period. S.G. Collions goes into much greater detail about the technology of the time in this video. In short, was people saw in 1969 was not possibly to fake because they didn't have the technology to fake it. However, because of the Cold War fueled race, they did have the technology to send three men into space and land on the moon's surface.

"Apparent omnipotence of special visual effects increases linearly with your date of birth"

Photos, According to Professionals.

Many believers are quick to point out "flaws" within the famous photos that were taken on the moon. The photo's in the side show, from National Geographic. According to S.G. Collins, people who

The cameras were made by Stan Lebar of Westinghouse Electric was responsible for making the cameras that has to withstand extreme temperatures (-250 F to 250 F) and run on 7 watts which is equivalent of one Christmas tree light bulb.

The first photograph shows the equipment that was brought to the moon. Many hoax believers believe that nothing was left behind, therefore there is no proof that the astronauts went. According to astronomer Phil Plait, author of the award-winning blog Bad Astronomy and president of the James Randi Educational Foundation there is not a high power telescope on earth that will be able to see the small artifacts that were left on the moon. Recently there have been some advancements that allow us to see tracks and the rovers from apollo 17.

The second is of Buzz Aldrin with Neil Armstrong reflected in the helmet. Hoax believers say that this shot is impossible because there were only two astronauts on the moon, how could this shot have happened? Phil Plait easily debunked this and said that both of the astronauts have cameras mounted on their chests. While is looks like Armstrong is not taking a picture, he in fact is.

In the picture of Buzz Aldrin descending out of the Eagle, he is illuminated despite the fact that he is in a shadow. The claim is that there are multiple light sources and the proves that this photos was shot in a studio. Historian Roger Launius, of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., explains that there were multiple light sources, but none of them fabricated. Light is reflected off of the moon's surface, the landing module, and the space suits.

In the photo of the landing module, there is no crater from the landing. According to Launius this is because the craft throttled back before landing and didn't hover long enough to kick up dust and make a dust cloud.

The print of Buzz Aldrin's boot is a bit too clear for some people to think that this picture came from the moon. But the dust on the moon is made of regolith, which is described by Phil Plait as, "... a finely ground powder. When you look at it under a microscope, it almost looks like volcanic ash. So when you step on it, it can compress very easily into the shape of a boot."

Perhaps on the more famous photographs from the moon is of the flag standing up right in a vacuum. The rod going through the top of the flag also was bent several times from being planted into the surface. Launius says that it was the interna that made the flag look the way it does now, and S.G. Collins confirmed that it was wiggling in the vacuum after letting go. Another claim is that the shadows diverge and that means that there were multiple light sources. S.G. Collins offers advice to go out side and see how the shadows work. Because of the topography of the moon, the shadows 'bend'. Mythbusters also challenged this claim and confirmed that the shadows were not parallel due to the divots on the surface. S.G. Collins also stated that if the light source had been closer, there would have been a fall off in brightness across the terrain. There wasn't because the sun is 150,000,000 kilometers away, which is too far away for the inverse square laws to make a difference.

The final picture with a black sky is one of the most common claims as to why the moon landing was a hoax. There are no stars! But the technology that they used wouldn't have picked up the stars. Plait said that the photographs were taken at 1/250th to 1/250th of a second. That doesn't allow enough exposure time for the camera to pick up the stars. S.G. Collins says something similar; that the camera was set to expose in broad daylight

But Mythbusters, National Geographic, and asdkfj all reiterate the same things as to why stars don't appear, because that's not how the camera was made, and why Buzz Aldrin's figure is illuminated in a shadow, because the reflection off the moon.

New Tech.

There has been new technology that has helped clear the air of what was "unbelievable" in 1969. In 2009 a new satellite passed the moon a meer 13 miles above it's surface. Footprints and rover marks from other Apollo missions were revealed with a clarity that have never been seen before.

Many people have been asking whether or not the American Flag is still standing. New photographs show that the flag is erect despite the ultraviolet light and the extreme temperatures. James Fincannon, of the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland wrote in the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal wrote, "Intuitively, experts mostly think it highly unlikely the Apollo flags could have endured the 42 years of exposure to vacuum, about 500 temperature swings from 242 F during the day to -280 F during the night, micrometeorites, radiation and ultraviolet light, some thinking the flags have all but disintegrated under such an assault of the environment." There is photographic evidence that the flag is still standing. Photographs taken of where the flag was planted at different times of the day show a rotating shadow, as pictured below.

Myths Busted?

Mythbusters, a high profile skepticism television show has tested many of the "Moon Landing Deniers or Nut-bags" claims that man has never stepped foot on the moon. By investigating the photos, they have deduced that they couldn't have been faked. They addressed the photographs where the shadows "weren't parallel" which meant that there would have had to be a second light source. After recreating the moon surface in their studio, they found that because of the divots and the natural topography that the moon has, the shadows coming off the rocks seemed like they were coming from different directions, when actually it was the natural elements.

A Glorious Moment

Buzz Aldrin, a hero to many Americans and second man on the moon, punches Bart Sibrel after Sibrel calls him a "coward" and a "lair".